So last weekend I started my new 28g nanocube with 30lbs of live rock and 20lb sand. I checked the water throughout the week and everything seemed to to sit at exactly perfect. Over the weekend I noticed a small dip in ph and ca since my rock has a lot of growth and even some coral frags already growing on it. I supplemented it with ca and it seems to be on its way back to normal but I still haven't been able to see any change in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate yet. I assumed this was since the rock was precured and didn't have the die off to really create bacterial food to spike anything. I added some raw shrimp to the tank just to give it some bio material to break down in an attempt to get things started and after 2 days still don't see any changes to parameters. I know a lot of people use a cheap fish to produce waste to cycle the tank but I would prefer not to go this option for a variety of reasons. Is the build up time from adding waste to seeing ammonia that long or is something else going on? I understand cycling is a longer process but it doesn't seem that anything has even started yet within the tank.

From my minimal knowledge of cycling - its alot easier if you add stuff like filter media from your current tank to the new one

or maybe add like 2 danios they the cycling kings! Toss em in there for a few days and check to see how their tyranny of ammonia spreading nature has taken over your now fully cycled tank

When your done with the danios the fish store will take them back, you can feed em to your cat/other fish or even your family
though this may be the reason you dont want to use cheapo fisho's to cycle the tank

"I" would throw my filter media in there or use some decorations from my old tank

From my minimal knowledge of cycling - its alot easier if you add stuff like filter media from your current tank to the new one

or maybe add like 2 danios they the cycling kings! Toss em in there for a few days and check to see how their tyranny of ammonia spreading nature has taken over your now fully cycled tank

When your done with the danios the fish store will take them back, you can feed em to your cat/other fish or even your family
though this may be the reason you dont want to use cheapo fisho's to cycle the tank

"I" would throw my filter media in there or use some decorations from my old tank

with all due respect i have a few things to say on this
1) its a saltwater tank (live rock etc..) so you would not put fresh water fish in there
2) why cycle a tank with fish when it can be done with out them and you dont have to worry about stressing the fish or hurting them (potential death!!)
3) while seeding is a great thing this is what you are doing with the LR and LS here putting something from another tank other than live sand or live rock will not really help in this case (used water, used carbon, etc..)
the main thing any salt water tank requires is time and often this is the hardest part.... any one with a salt tank will tell you the first set up is the hardest

It is entirely possible that if you add fully cured live rock and have little to no die off you will not have a measurable cycle. Hang in there and start looking for signs that your tank is maturing which is far more important to me in a SW system. You're going to start seeing all sorts of microfauna and other tiny critters in the next few weeks :) along with a diatom bloom